


How to Live With the End of the World

by Mollz



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Apocalypse, Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-25
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 17:18:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mollz/pseuds/Mollz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the end of the world. Just that simple. There's no way to stop it, there's no way to avoid it. In their last moments, the Avengers come to terms with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Live With the End of the World

**Clint and Natasha:**

They never say I love you. Love is for children, but more than that, love is for people who aren’t broken. And they’re both so very broken.

Instead of I love you, they say, I’m here. Even when they’re far away, miles or light-years away, they say I’m here. And both of them know what it means.

They sit on the edge of a rooftop, not touching. Clint quietly strings and unstrings his bow, and Natasha cleans and takes apart and puts together her gun. They’re not touching, not reduced to tears or even looking at each other. But every few minutes, one of them will quietly say, I’m here. And the other will repeat it.

They’ve never needed more than just that.

**Tony:**

Pepper is there, pulling him away, trying to drag his raw, bleeding fingers away from the metals he’s working with. He’s shouting at her, but he doesn’t know what. He’s still in his head, surrounded by numbers and figures and _there has to be something, I don’t want to die oh god please don’t let this be the end._

But Pepper’s always been a strong one, and she pulls him away from his lab, whispering softly in his ear that there isn’t anything he can do, that it’s not his fault, that he needs to calm down. Calm down? How do you calm down when the world is ending? He needs to get back to his lab, come up with something, some solution, some way…

Bruce puts a hand on his shoulder, and he collapses into his best friend, sobbing like a child.

**Steve:**

He’s alone, which is fitting, because he’s always alone. He’s alone here, in this empty apartment, and he’s alone here, in this year, in this decade, in this century, in this goddamn millennia. He’s so alone and it hurts, a physical pain that rips through his chest like bullets and knives.

But there’s a beep from his pocket, and as he looks down at his phone, he sees a text from Pepper.

_We want you here with us when it happens._

He swallows, slowly, wiping a tear from his eye, and stands up. He grabs his motorcycle helmet and goes to the door without a second thought.

He doesn’t have to be alone.

**Bruce:**

If it had happened just a year ago, he would have been watching this from a third world country, surrounded by strangers and thinking of Betty.

But he’s so full now, he has so much, and he wastes a thought that if it had to happen, at least he got to really feel warmth before it did.

They’re on a couch on the roof, Tony curled up on his right side and Pepper on his left. The people who took him in and cared for him. And Steve comes up the stairs, smiling and whispering sorrowful hellos, and they let him in, too. Sitting on the ledge of the roof are Clint and Natasha, whispering words of familiarity and comfort.

It’s the end of the world, but they have each other until the darkness comes.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've always liked the idea of unavoidable destruction bringing people together. I started with Natasha and Clint, and I just had to keep writing until I'd fleshed out everyone. Sorry that there's no Thor, but if he were here then they'd have a way out, wouldn't they?
> 
> Comments are good, please comment. :)


End file.
